"DesktopBSD 1.6RC3 for AMD64 is now available for download via BitTorrent and from our mirror sites. It includes several improvements made since the release of 1.6RC3 for i386, including: better performance by disabling SMP on single core/processor computers, fixed installation on disks with special partition names, inclusion of the FreeBSD ports collection on the DVD, and more."

I disagree completely. PC-BSD is doing something unique by offering PBI's. These, much like Windows' EXE files, offer a painless method for newbies to install packages. The ports system is still available for those wishing to do things the in a more traditional BSD way. It boggles me why people are so quick to attack simplified methods of installing software? Linspire Linux was also ridiculed when its distribution began touting "Click-n-run" as an alternative to Debian's more traditional apt (and Synaptic.) Change is not bad. Repeat as necessary.

Another benefit of the PBI system, for those of us with limited internet access, is that you are downloading ONE file as opposed to several dependencies for your program to work. I've used FreeBSD since 1998, but given my current location, internet access isn't always a given and thus ports/packages aren't always available. Downloading a single file with an installer has helped tremendously. Now if only there was an option to view the install script before actually installing...

"Another benefit of the PBI system, for those of us with limited internet access, is that you are downloading ONE file as opposed to several dependencies for your program to work."

This implies another advantage: You can compose CDs or DVDs with software to be installed on systems without Internet connection. The dependencies are included, so everything you need is inside the PBI file. In most cases, the PBI is smaller in size than the precompiled package with all dependency packages. And of course it's faster than compiling things from source.

The downside: You cannot update components like libraries for all applications, you need to upgrade via PBI.